Domestic Fuel

Energy Independence ——- Let’s not support oil producing countries that want to destroy us. ——– Support ALL alternative fuels programs including ehtanol, biodiesel, CNG, electric automobiles, and hydrogen. We need to convert gasoline stations to refueling stations that offer a choice of fuels.

The high price of oil last year contributed to the recession we are in and helped push consumers over the edge. As soon as the recession is over OPEC will raise prices again.

We need to reduce our dependence on foreign sources of energy. Let’s produce our energy here at home and provide jobs for the US population. Sending our money over seas is not the answer.

We need to diversify our supply of energy. Wind, solar, biofuel will all contribute to our energy independence.

Way to go Oregon. Consumers need a choice. Let them choose whether they want to choose highly subsidized, lower efficient fuel, that raises food prices. Yes… That was proven by the USDA recently. Ethanol contributed to 15% of the rise of food over all will it contributing 50 to 80% rise in some of the basic necessities. Chuck Grassley is a dolt. He walked around the Senate asking people if they would eat a handfull of field corn. Once they said they wouldn’t he proclaimed that corn must not be food then. Apparently the same tactic would have worked with a pig under his arm. Corn is food. Corn feeds some of our food sources. Ethanol is 66% the energy content of regular gas. So E-85 is 71% the fuel mileage of Regular and E-10 is 96% percent of Regular. Fuel Independence is a joke. That old saw has been around since the 1970s. If you stopped doing business with people you didn’t like or didn’t like you the world would grind to a halt. Those who think we get most of our fuel from the Arabs haven’t looked at the EIA reports. Most of our crude comes from Canada, USA, and Mexico. Enemies????

Your logic on importing oil as a weapon can be turned on its head. Do we deny exporting grains and other foods to all countries we don’t like? How about not letting them buy our cars or machinery we manufacture? What about our software? Playing this isolationist game puts the US in the same thinking of the 1930s where we had a resurgence of isolationist policies put in place that agravated the Great Depression. When or if we were to deny exporting out goods to other countries we don’t like then what do we do with the jobs lost? How do we defend ourselves in the WTO trade courts where we can be fined or have countervailing sanctions placed on us for our actions? Funny how too little thinking is involved in this ENERGY INDEPENDENCE BS. Maybe someone should talk to the Japanese who have been trying to be food independent for 70 years.

Cryano54,

OPEC controls the spigots of oil to Western Nations. The fuel industry is an oligopolistic marketplace. My aim is to see the fuel marketplace become more competitive. The agricultural industry, the utility industry, and the fuel industry must compete with each other to resolve our energy challenges. Vehicles will be powered by a combination of stored electrical power and liquid fuels for energy on demand.

My question to you is how can pure market competition within the fuel industry lead to a Depression?

Americans protect the Straights of Hormuz for that “free flow of Mid East oil” that you declare is cheap and “in our interests” to trade under a comparative advantage market model. I say the cost of our military in American lives and US Treasury to control the peace within the Middle East region is expensive and should not be born on US taxpayers as a “Hidden Tax” on imported oil that we do import in significant quantities; yet, the quantities can be nullified, with a properly developed biofuel industry; as well as, changes within the development of vehicle design that can use alternative energies such as electricity, biofuels and fossil fuels.

When I walk into a grocery store I have a thousand choices to fuel my body. When I drive to a gas station to fuel my car, I have ONE choice – gasoline – for my gasoline powered vehicle. I HAVE run my gasoline powered vehicle on E-85 with a conversion kit. No big deal. Runs just fine on renewable fuel. Costs a little more out of my pocket, BUT in reality IT DOES’N'T. I don’t support the foul Jihadistic or Communistic liquid coming half way around the world with OUR tax dollars supporting its protection to be delivered to me to fuel my car. ITS expensive, ITS wrong, and IT STINKS. SO DON’T FORCE ME TO USE THAT EXPENSIVE FOREIGN FOUL STENCH! I’M tired of it – I want more choices! I choose to support my local biofuel industry.

So my next question is, “How much does Imported IRAQI crude oil cost the American Consumer?” How much does Saudi Arabian crude oil cost the average American? We pay how much tribute in U.S. Tax Payer dollars to support the Palestinians? How much FREE food in TRIBUTE have we dumped their way?

So lets get the Arabs off the Government Dole and find out who really can compete for the energy needs to power our personal mobility. My bet is everything changes IF and WHEN our MILITARY evacuates from the Persian Gulf. Let the Arabs and Persians duke it out over the control of oil to feed Western Civilization. Our Western Civilization can consume a different energy source.

There is no war for oil. That old wives tale is just that. The reason you have gasoline for your car is its the best fuel to fuel it. You could drive a diesel. I have a car that runs on gasoline and one that runs on diesel. You could also walk, bike, live close to work. You could work at home. There. Several choices of fuel available. I lived a mile from work for over 2 years. It was a real money saver to walk. Comparative advantage is an economic law no matter how much a government tries to interupt it through policy it will be the dominating factor eventually. There is no correlation or causation between displacement of crude oil by biofuels and conflict involving the military. Displacing 5% of crude won’t lead to a 5% decrease in Hormuz defense because that is not why we have a military. The world runs on crude oil, and it will for a long time. Those who shun the most cost effective ways of powering their economies will find themselves in decline. There is a great book called “40 centuries of wage and price controls” it tells historical how controlling an economy by dictoral mandate only leads to decline, including retricting trade. There is a hidden tax on biofuels. Its not hidden to those in the industry. Did you know that the government provides a mandate of production with fines for coming up short in the production in ethanol/biodiesel. One top of that the Federal government pays $1.00/gal for biodiesel in subsidies and $.45/gal for ethanol to the Oil and ethanol companies. Its not represented to the public that way at the pump and even then ethanol/biodiesel is more expensive per mile than gasoline. The Ethanol plants are still losing money even with a mandate and a subsidy. The military is a fixed cost of government, too many of the biofools regard it as a variable cost and somehow consider them the guarders of the energy stores of the earth. OPEC is not the majority of production nor the keeper of the world supply. Like any other large loose confederation, their is constant defections. Regularly, despite the press, the cuts they announce in production are not met. Too many players need the money. Right now they have to pay for all these free programs for their public that they promised when crude was more expensive and despite crude 33% of what it was before they still have to make good on the legacy programs they put in place. Sound familiar…

I’ll run the math, Mr. Walker. According to EIA, ten years ago, we had 2 million barrels per day from Alaska and the West Coast refineries were filled and we imported just 25% of our needs from Canada, Mexico and from some other countries. Today, West Coast refineries must import over 50% of their crude oil feedstock that Alaska can NOW only supply just 800 thousand barrels per day.

So my question to YOU, sir, and the other “Ethanol Naysayers” above – just where are West Coast refineries buying the 1.2 million barrels per day shortfall that Alaska isn’t providing us?!? (Ya the caribou are bleating in ANWR slipping on the untouched crude oil as we speak)

And where will we be buying crude oil to feed our refineries — TEN YEARS from NOW?!? Ummmmm… Pretty Good Questions – Aren’t They?…..

So with our farmers, they have just ramped up and started producing over 600,000 barrels per day of ethanol to replace some gasoline —- which requires 1 million barrels of crude oil per day to refine into less than 500,000 barrels of gasoline per day.

So you want to import more crude oil, eh? So we just keep bending over the OPEC barrel – more and more every year. I’m just not interested in that scenario anymore. As a US citizen, I believe in choice and importing more every year from OPEC is not the choice I want to make. So I support efficiency, I support more drilling in ANWR, and I support more ethanol development in this country. So that makes me not concerned about your boat or your small gas powered weed eater. Don’t blame ethanol, talk to your equipment manufacturer to fix the problem and move on.